Manufacturer chooses Boring instead of Interpolation – Reduces cycle time by 50%

Products Engineering Corporation Combination Square Kit

Products Engineering Corporation (www.pectools.com) has been producing precision tools in Southern California since 1960.  One of their most popular products is a combination square that requires two precision concentric bores and two precision concentric diameters for the tool to function properly.

Combination square bodies waiting to be loaded on the pallet

Products Engineering Corporation manufactures their combination square bodies on a Haas VF-1 machining center with a Midaco pallet shuttle. Each pallet is designed to hold 19 bodies at a time. Michael Berlin, Quality Assurance Manager at PEC, explained that they had been circle interpolating the two bores with satisfactory results but each pallet had a 28-minute cycle time. He wanted to improve the cycle time and possibly the quality of the bores so he started researching alternative hole-making methods.

A pallet of bodies in the Haas

Michael contacted Criterion about the possibility of a boring system that could bore his casting without any additional hole preparation. One bore is 2.500” in diameter while the other bore is slightly larger.  It was decided that the Cri-Bore modular boring system would be the best choice for this operation. The Cri-Bore system would give him easy adjustability and the single point tool would produce the bore he required. We determined the appropriate SFPM for his material was in the 400 – 700 range with a feed rate around .002” per revolution.  Michael said changing from circle interpolating to boring has reduced his cycle time from 28 minutes a pallet to 14 minutes a pallet and improved the quality of his bores.

Because of the success of the boring operation, Michael Berlin contacted Criterion again to see if we could help him with the mating part. Michael asked if we had any products that could cut outside diameters on his vertical machining centers. He was using circle interpolation on these parts also and a pallet of parts was taking 47 minutes to manufacture. We proposed using the Large Diameter Cri-Bore System with the cutting tip turned 180 degrees and a counterbalance weight added so the correct SFPM could be achieved. Some minor modifications to the insert holder were needed so the existing fixturing could be used. The SFPM and the feed rate were the same for this operation as the previous. Products Engineering Corporation’s change to our LCB1.5 Modular Boring System reduced the cycle time for this operation by 16 minutes. In addition to the reduction in time there was also an improvement in quality on these parts. A pallet of combination square bodies now can be made in 31 minutes.

A pallet of parts for OD Turning in the Haas

Completed parts ready for the next operation


A special Thank you to the management of Products Engineering Corporation for selecting Criterion for this project and allowing us to Photograph, Video Record and write about this project . If you would like to see the video log on to our youtube channel.

www.youtube.com/user/CriterionMW

Be sure and see our booth @IMTS2010 W-2100

If you're making your plans to visit IMTS be sure to include us in your show planner.

You can access the IMTS Show Planner right on the IMTS website under Floorplans.  We're located in the West building.

We'll be displaying the the new products that you're seeing here on our blog.

This year we're talking about cycle time savings!

Check out the picture on the right.  This is where our booth is located. Our booth W-2100 highlighted in red at the right.  

When you click on our booth you can see some of the featured products.

But be sure and stop by for a first hand look at some of the newest time saving Modular Boring Products and Adjustable Boring heads for both CNC Mills and Swiss Turning machines.

Large Diameter Bores? You may already own what you need.

Criterion’s large diameter boring system increased the production of one of our customers in Wisconsin from one part per hour to fourteen parts per hour! This production increase reduced the boring machining cost by 93% of what it had been. Criterion’s modular boring system will PAID FOR ITSELF in 1 week!

The LCB1.5 modular boring system is designed around Criterion’s standard 1-1/2” diameter Cri-Bore modular boring head, a series of extender bars  and a tool holder. 

By using Criterion modular boring heads, that you may already have in your shop, you can use the extender bars to machine larger bores and even install the heads 180 degree around and machine the OD of a boss.


Did you catch that? That means that the LCB1.5 boring heads can also be positioned so they turn a boss on a part–eliminating the need for additional set-ups on other machines.


The use of counterweights allows the system to operate at the recommend SFPM for the carbide inserts. Doing this extends the carbide life—as well as decreases the production times required for carbide boring.

So the bottom line is this: If you have some of our CB1.5 boring heads in your shop, you only need to purchase our extender bars in many cases.


Go out on your floor and take a look around and see if you've got some of our modular boring heads already. Here's what to look for:

CODE NO.	TOOL NO.	A MAX. BORE	B MIN. BORE	C OVERALL LENGTH	D BAR DIA.	INSERT I.C.	INSERT STYLE	THREAD
25337	CB1.5-BD-TP	2.700	1.585	2.480	1.500"	.375	TPGT/TPGW	7/8-20
25341	CB1.5-BD-CP/DI	2.700	1.585	2.480	1.500"	.375	CC or CP	7/8-20

Download our complete LCB1.5 Boring System information in PDF format.